Reliability for: Dairy calf disbudding wounds

Disbudding, a painful procedure, permanently damages the horn-bud tissue either with a hot iron (heat) or caustic paste (chemical). The resulting wounds persist for an average of 7-9 wk for hot-iron or 14-18 wk for the caustic paste method. Throughout this healing process, disbudding wounds can be characterized by their tissue composition. To create consistency among our research team with identifying these stages of healing, we have developed supporting materials. This Dryad submission contains information for evaluating observer reliability when describing disbudding wounds in dairy calves. The wound scoring system and definitions we have used in previous research are included, along with a 110-photo test containing examples of the different tissue types. These photos are intended to be used to test observer reliability before data collection begins, during data collection, or afterwards. Included are: (1) the gold standard key for comparison, (2) a blank, formatted Excel sheet for data entry, and (3) an example response from an intern. Finally, the R code (kappa R package irr, version 0.84.1) used for calculating intra- and inter-observer reliability of disbudding wounds is presented. The outcomes of the analysis of the gold standard vs. gold standard and gold standard vs. an intern are shown. These data and resources can be used in future research to support reliable scoring among observers.